Aariel Moonsong
"They say that the world wept when it lost the Moon Princess. Never again would it be blessed with such beauty or grace" - Indara's Lore Aariel Moonsong is one of the heroes of Bretton and the Orc-Elf War. Appearance Aariel is a tall elven woman with long wavy platinum blonde hair hanging over her shoulders. She has soft but well defined elegant facial features and long pointed ears that stick out past her hair. She tends to wear shades of purple both in and outside of combat, but also dons nearly white silver armour. Biography Early Life Born if the Forest of Lunarissitha to forgotten parents, Aariel became a drifter and a dreamer, at the age of 25 she came into consciousness and discovered her goal was to learn new things and help others. She began her travels by going to faraway forests and mountains, she trained to become a ranger. She knew that she had to fulfill her purpose and departed for the continent of Bretton and began her journey set forth by her ancestors. She would meet up with a mysterious man named Emeth before arriving. Untold Origins Upon arriving in Santaris the pair met a curious dryad named Verdana, a short tempered squirrel person named Tupai, and a somewhat violent orc named Dench. As Emeth was interested in what Verdana and Tupai were and Verdana was captivated by Aariel, they decided to travel together, taking Dench along with them. After gathering some information on the country, Emeth got his hands on a key to a nearby cavern. In this cave they came across a drow rogue named Keldon. He escaped but in the fight he dropped a magical pendant. The pendant had a enchantment on it that lead them to a slave encampment in human territory run by the church of Zaurus. They were attacked by the slavers but easily defeated them and set free all the slaves. After investigating the encampment then discovered that the church of Zaurus was working with the church of Tharizdun. On the road, Emeth informed Aariel that he had found a lead on the location of the church sect that he had been tracking. Tupai had mentioned that she wanted to set off on a small trip in search of treasure, so they took advantage of the moment and Emeth and Aariel snuck off to chase the lead. Once they arrived they found the sect was training assassins. Aariel had no qualms with killing them all. and while sneaking closer she was able to convince Emeth that it was the best choice, do to the fact that they would become threats later. The group continued to use the pendant to lead them to church of Tharizdun camps. In one of the fights that would follow the pendant was broken. The group then had to start following other leads, and after they interrogated some remaining members of the church the group discovered that the church was assassinating the leaders of the races of Bretton. The party headed into the Hazy Mountains to warn the Shogun of the Kitsune that lived there, they arrived just in time to help ward off the assassins, but the Shogun was hurt. After securing the Shoguns safety, Aariel noticed that there was a commotion near the inn. When they got closer they saw a thin sickly kitsune who was raving about having escaped a group of human slavers. Emeth quickly approached and took the kitsunes memory of the escape, then he asked Aariel to again accompany him. When they caught up to the cult, they began their assault but after they had felled half of the troops, the elites began to order the slaves to attack, promising food if they succeeded. Aariel was about to kill them as well when Emeth insisted that she leave them alive and focus on the actual threat, the church's elites. He then proceeded to use non lethal force to incapacitate the slaves and Aariel killed all but the leader of the troupe. Emeth and Aariel interrogated him but as he refused to offer any information, Emeth killed him. After rejoining their companions, the party moved downwards into the Mythrin Woods to warn Ohken. They arrived there to find that he was training a new druid who was in turn slowly poisoning the great treant. The group managed to fend off the pack of assassins coming to kill the weakened leader, as Verdana squared off against the elven druid, the following fight badly damaged the forests life force. After Ohken was cared for and beginning to heal the party left for the Forest of Lunarissitha. As they journeyed they heard a few rumours of a town turning away all travelers and merchants. To be safe, Emeth stole the memory of the city from the merchant, but when he did he recognized the symbol of Zaurus on a nearby building. He informed Aariel of this and they set off to figure out the town's situation. When they arrived they snuck into the town and realized quickly that they had been subjugated and were being ruled by the church of Zaurus. They stayed undercover in the home of a baker while sizing up the enemy's strength. Aariel had mentioned that there was no benefit to merely saving the townfolk as they would simply be conquered by someone else in the future. To that end, at night, they went from home to home mustering the captive townsfolk and inciting rebellion. After a couple of days they, along with the townsfolk, rose up against the church and fought hard while supporting the townspeple and keeping as many of them alive as possible. When only the leader of the conquering sect remained, Aariel refused to attack him and insisted that Emeth do the same so that the citizens could become self-sufficient. Once the baker had killed the leader of the sect, he turned to them and thanked them for their leadership, offering Aariel an enchanted necklace that had been passed down in his family, and gave Emeth his family's enchanted signet ring, explaining he was descended from a noble house. After making sure the town would be fine, they returned to join the party. When they finally arrived at Lunarissitha, they were able to keep the Queen of the White Elves safe, as Dench killed Keldon. They then departed back to Santaris to protect the King of Humanity, Darian Santaris. Upon becoming his royal security the group began to uncover the truth and realized that he was the leader of the church of Tharizdun and orchestrated all of the previous attacks. When they confronted the King, he used all of the royal blood he had acquired to summon a Demogorgon using an ancient arcane ritual. The group managed to hold off the Demogorgon as Tupai fought and defeated the King ending the enchantment. The group continued to defend Bretton for about a decade, before following Dench to Unitas. Broken Chains Verdana, Faunen and Emeth took off on an adventure to help free slaves, while Aariel stayed behind to help the elven society of Unitas become more organized and ready for the oncoming threat that the Orcs lead by Dench posed. Orc Elf War Verdana returned to Aariels side in Anor, the two of them continued to build up the defense of the elves while Verdana hopped for a peaceful resolution to the rising orc threat, Aariel new that her friends would never be the same after the events coming in the next few years. One evening Aariel had a vision from her ancestors that showed her her new quest she was to save the drow, not just the elves. At first the council was unsure as to whether they would interfere but as drow genocide became a more pressing reality they were pressured into getting involved. Aariel lead the elven armies as they marched across Anor, the two sides clashed in the drow capital, Aariel, Verdana, and Faunen were able to turn the tides of the battle and pushed the Orcs out of the capital. Aariel began to fortify the capital. During this time Dench began to pillage and burn the small towns around the them. Aariel had another vision where she saw herself killing Dench and new it was her final destiny. Verdana and Aariel met with Dench in hopes of discussing a treaty but time had not been kind to their once friend, he had been driven mad, left with only revenge fueling shattered mind. Aariel knew it was pointless and gave up all hope and began to ready the elves for full on war. For three years Dench continued to clash against the elves his eyes fell not just upon the drow as his army now targeted all within Anor slaughtering drow, and elf. His blade fell indifferently upon women, children or men. His army laid wast to the small towns and villages that Aariel could not protect. After a large set back to the orcs in which they were pushed back to the border of Anor, Aariel lead her army into a final battle with the weakened orcs. Verdana and the druids kept the orc army contained by shift the very earth around them. Aariel cleaved a path through the opposing army reaching Dench, he attempted to slay her where she stood, Verdana saw from a distance, as she screamed in terror the sky opened up and rain fell upon the battle field. The nimble elf was able to dodge the lumbering orc, and plunged her dagger into his heart, as their commander fell the opposing army surrendered. Emeth showed up as the battled ended and took the body of Dench and congratulated Aariel on her victory. The following days were a celebration unlike any before in Anor, on the final night of celebration Aariel was unusually cold towards Verdana. Emeth showed up to talk to Aariel, they had a brief conversation in which Emeth attempted to apologize for his lack of presence, but she explained it was fate. She and Verdana went to bed together for the last time. The next morning as the moon shone before the sun rose Aariel walked onto the balcony, turned towards her lover asleep in the bed and shed her first tear. At that moment she began to glow a faint purple as her body dissolved into silver dust. She was now a light purple astral being with glowing silver hair, she had chosen to ascend as most white elves do, because she could not stay here on the material plan after she had hurt Verdana in away she could not fix. She had seen the way Verdana now looked at her, they were still in love but she had taken the life of a friend and Verdana was deeply hurt. Reclaiming Unity Aariel Moonsong would project her astral form into the mind of her granddaughter Aariel Dawning, along with the astral form of Briallen Moonsong, and tell Aariel that she didn't have to follow the destiny they set out before her and to claim her own. They helped to convince the younger Aariel that she should stay with her love. She would later in astral form defend the soul of her granddaughter from a resurrection spell that was going to bring her back but control her mind. Post Tyrian War Aariel and her daughter would project their astral forms once more to her great granddaughter Neaera Dawning, and bestow upon her her fated destiny. Her fate was to become a member of the Church of Nicholias and help bring comfort to the many that would need it in the war to come, to be their shield and guard them from the terrors set to beseech the land and protect the innocent from slaughter. Equipment Aariel has a magical bow named Somber Soul, which allowed her to shoot faster, farther, and more accurately. Powers Aariel is an exceptional archer, and studied some base magic as a ranger. She spent a small period of time furthering her magical knowledge studying sorcery in Anor before learning how to blend that with archery to become an arcane archer.